The importing and exporting of goods across jurisdictional boundaries, such as between states or nations, is a well-known phenomenon. As a result of increased globalization, free trade agreements and the rise of multinational corporations, the trade in goods across borders continues to grow and accelerate.
Due to a desire for governments of all kinds to track goods leaving and entering a jurisdiction, significant reporting must occur prior to goods crossing a border. However, most governments are far more concerned with the goods entering than those leaving. As a result of this dichotomy, the data required to export a product from a jurisdiction is typically significantly less detailed than the data required for government clearance required for the same product on entry into the same jurisdiction.
In addition to the differences in data required for import as compared to export, different governments have different requirements as to the data required for goods to cross their borders. For example, some governments, such as those subscribing to protectionist import policies, require a tremendous amount of data prior to clearing goods for importation. In contrast, some free trading countries require almost minimal data for the importation of the same goods. As a result of these regional differences, entities that are in a business that spans many jurisdictions have tremendous difficulty in keeping track of the various requirements for shipping their goods exported and imported between a large number of jurisdictions.
Further complicating matters is the typical separation between the exporter and the importer. In many situations, an exporting company located in a first jurisdiction will sell goods to an importer in a second jurisdiction. The exporter is typically concerned with the ability to have the sold goods exit the first jurisdiction leaving the importer to arrange for the government clearance required to enable entry of the goods into the second jurisdiction. However, due to the differences in the reporting requirements required for exporting as compared to importing, difficulties often arise which may strand the goods being shipped in limbo between the two jurisdictions. An entire brokerage industry has sprung forth to smooth and overcome these difficulties.
Despite the existence of the brokerage industry, problems in systems and methods designed to smooth and ease transit of products between jurisdictions still exist. These problems, which are typically overcome after much effort, often result in delays in receipt of the goods by the importing party. As a result of these delays, the parties or the goods themselves may be damaged. For example, an importing party, in many cases, may not pay for the goods until they are received. Delays resulting from shipment difficulties may result in significant carrying costs to the exporting party. Additionally, the importer may have customers that critically require the goods being imported. Any delays resulting from difficulties during export or import of goods may cascade down the supply chain to the ultimate consumers of the goods in question. Additionally, many goods are sensitive to delays and may be permanently and detrimentally damaged by delays experienced during transit.
In addition to difficulties described above, many other difficulties are encountered during the shipment of goods between jurisdictions. For example, due to the many people and operations currently involved in the export and import of goods, there exists the likelihood that errors will creep into systems designed to assist in these types of transactions. In most systems presently available, an exporter will manually enter data in a computer system designed to assist in the export of products. The data entered into the export system typically includes data about the products, the exporting entity, the destination and the importing entity. From this data, these export systems will generate the necessary physical or electronic documents necessary for clearance by the exporting jurisdiction. However, upon reaching the importing jurisdiction, additional information is typically required by the government of the import jurisdiction. Brokers, assisting in the shipment of the goods in question, then contact the various parties, manually enter the required information received from the parties, as well as information garnered from the export documentation, into an import computer system. The import system is then able to generate the documentation required for clearance by the importing jurisdiction. However, due to the manual entry by many parties, keying errors often result. These keying errors add additional difficulties and delays into an already cumbersome process.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and system for the exportation and/or importation of goods, which addresses these problems.